Be prepared to be shocked… authors, even the extremely famous ones , are real people – like you and me. I know, shocking huh? 😉

Honestly though, while I’m glued to my computer for my day job, I enjoy listening to interviews with these real people. Their thoughts are inspiring and motivating – especially if you’re a writer too.

I was capitvated by J.K. Rowling’s interview with Oprah (see below). If you have 45 minutes it’s worth the watch (or listen, like I did). If not, I’ve included links to some other famous childrens author interviews I enjoyed (that are a lot shorter).

Be prepared though – you’ll want to write as soon as you’re done listening. Might want to save some time for that for later.

Beverly was a children’s librarian before becoming an author. She got in to writing because the children weren’t satisfied with the books that were available. She never received a rejection letter – ever!

Lois Lowry dropped out of college and finished after he children were all in school. She never submitted a story formally. She was approached by an editor and asked to try writing a story for children – which turned in to her first novel.

Like this:

My eight year old daughter won’t take no for an answer. Frequently she gets an idea in her head and sinks her teeth into it – pit bull style. There’s no prying her off an idea she loves. She doesn’t ask “Can we go to the park?” She asks, “When are we leaving for the park?” One tiresome afternoon (after many, many nos to “Can we go to the park?”) she collected my purse and keys, got her shoes on and announced that it was time to go. ‘No’ doesn’t work with her unless you want to hear “When, then?” (I didn’t, so I caved and we went).

Every writer needs a little ‘pit bull’ in their blood. Myself included. We’ve all gotten rejections; form letters, the ‘not quite right’ ones, the note on the manuscript followed with a nice ‘try again.’ They’re all no’s, we’re not fooled. But if we’re pit bulls, the next thought (the one that comes after the wallowing and pint of ice cream) should be “When, then?”

It’ll happen. My daughter gets to go to the park eventually and we’ll get to see our story in print too. Just sink your teeth in and resubmit.